Petrophile shuttleworthiana

Petrophile shuttleworthiana
P. shuttleworthiana in the Wongan Hills district of Western Australia.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Plantae
(unranked): Angiosperms
(unranked): Eudicots
Order: Proteales
Family: Proteaceae
Genus: Petrophile
Species: P. shuttleworthiana
Binomial name
Petrophile shuttleworthiana
Meisn.

Petrophile shuttleworthiana is a shrub which is native to the south west of Western Australia, growing within a radius of about 400 kilometres of Perth.[1]

Description

P. shuttleworthiana is an upright, open shrub that can reach around 2 metres (7 feet) tall. Its branches and leaves are glabrous, the leaves about 3.5–7 cm long, deeply divided into 3 - 7 lobes, rigid and with a sharp point on the end of each lobe. Individual flowers are about 11 mm long, cream, creamy white or yellow and glabrous.[2] They are terminal (appearing at the end of stems) and appear in spring.[3]

Taxonomy and naming

The species was described by Swiss botanist Carl Meissner in 1856 from a specimen collected in 1844 near the Swan River by James Drummond. The specific epithet recognises the English collector, botanist and malacologist Robert J. Shuttleworth.[4] The closest relative of P. shuttleworthiana is Petrophile macrostachya.[3]

Distribution and habitat

P. shuttleworthiana is found in the Avon Wheatbelt, Geraldton Sandplains and Swan Coastal Plain biogeographic regions from Moore River north to Kalbarri. It grows in heath, shrubland or mallee on grey-yellow sand, sometimes with gravel or laterite.[2][5]

Cultivation

Petrophile shuttleworthiana has not been seen in regular cultivation. Its leaves and fruit are potential horticultural features.[3]

References

  1. "Petrophile shuttleworthiana". FloraBase. Department of Environment and Conservation, Government of Western Australia. Retrieved 9 January 2015
  2. 1 2 "Petrophile shuttleworthiana". Flora of Australia Online. Department of the Environment and Heritage, Australian Government. Retrieved 9 January 2015
  3. 1 2 3 Wrigley, John; Fagg, Murray (1991). Banksias, Waratahs and Grevilleas. Sydney: Angus & Robertson. p. 509. ISBN 0-207-17277-3.
  4. "Type of Petrophile shuttleworthiana Meisn.". Retrieved 18 January 2015.
  5. Paczkowska, Grazyna; Chapman, Alex R. (2000). The Western Australian flora : a descriptive catalogue. Perth: Wildflower Society of Western Australia. p. 502. ISBN 0646401009.
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